


Seen and Not Heard

by Mithrigil



Category: Sengoku Basara
Genre: Childhood, Gen, If you ever lay a hand on him, because I won't, may someone else have mercy on you
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-09-20
Updated: 2012-09-20
Packaged: 2017-11-14 15:45:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,620
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/516961
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mithrigil/pseuds/Mithrigil
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Little Bontenmaru discovers just what it means for Kojuro to protect him--and what happens to the people who test that oath.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Seen and Not Heard

This sucks. This _really_ sucks. It's not Bontenmaru's fault someone attacked him! He's the heir of the Lord of Oshu, of course they'd attack him if they wanted something from his old man! 'Course, those someones are stupid for thinking they could get past his bodyguards, 'cause Bontenmaru's bodyguards are the best guards in the whole country (except when they tell him he's not allowed to be his own bodyguard because he's little but he's not gonna be little forever, he's _eight_ , eight's almost ten and maybe when he's ten he won't need bodyguards), and they'll beat the snot out of anyone who tries to hurt him 'cause that's what they're supposed to do. But that doesn't mean that Bontenmaru has to be stuck inside while they do it. And that's the part that sucks.

Seriously! First they attacked the carriage--which is the stupidest part, 'cause Bontenmaru was inside the carriage the whole time and didn't get to see the fight--and now the old man has shut Bontenmaru up in his room with the guards on the outside and he can't even see them getting punished.

"Stupid," he says aloud, and then he says it again, louder, in the language he's not supposed to say things in. " **Stupid**." He beats his fist against the futon--his left fist, 'cause his right arm is in a sling now from when the carriage fell over--and bites his lip, and gets a great idea a second later.

The sun hasn't set yet and he can see the shadows of his guards through the paper walls. Two whole fusuma panels are unguarded! That's just begging Bontenmaru to try and escape. That's it! Maybe the old man just wanted to make it look like he's trying to protect Bontenmaru from watching the idiots get thrashed, and he really just wants Bontenmaru to come out and see. And practice his sneaking, 'cause Kojuro always says that Bontenmaru's no good at being quiet.

So Bontenmaru forces out a few loud sniffles to pretend he's giving up and going to sleep, then wriggles over to the fusuma without rustling the tatami and pushes the panel open as quietly as he can with his good arm. It works! Maybe he can tell Kojuro later and he'll be impressed that Bontemaru's getting better at sneaking. Then again, if he tells Kojuro Kojuro might make it harder for him to escape. But that's not bad either. That's just a challenge!

So Bontenmaru creeps down the hall and out to the courtyard and listens around. Hm. If he were the Lord of Oshu (which he's gonna be someday so he might as well start practicing now!), where would he punish people who attacked his heir? The big courtyard, maybe, but no one's here. Maybe the receiving chamber, but there's no way he'll get past the guards out front and there's no way to get in without the old man seeing him.

Guess he didn't think this through.

Oh well! It's not like he's gonna go back inside, so he might as well look around--

"Oh, Young Master!" one of the older maids coos, bustling toward him. "I'm so sorry to hear about this afternoon and so glad to see you well! But you should be back inside."

Bontenmaru puts on his best cutie-face and looks up at her. This should work. It usually does. "Thanks. But I want Kojuro." He pouts, 'cause that usually works too. "Can I have him please?"

"Oh, you poor dear. Why don't you wait in your rooms, I'll have someone fetch him immediately."

"I want him right now."

"I'm so sorry, Young Master, but Lord Katakura is--"

"I don't care!"

The maid buckles and hangs her head. Bontenmaru tries not to feel too proud, since if it shows in his smile he won't get what he wants, but he does let himself smile a little, since it seems to be working.

Or not. "Young Master," the maid says, very carefully, "your father sent Lord Katakura away with the men that attacked you. He might not be back until tomorrow morning."

Bontenmaru kicks the dirt--whoops, he forgot to put shoes on when he snuck out, that was really stupid of him except it worked--and storms off. So much for sneaking out, 'cause now the guards are after him, but no way they're going to keep him from seeing the men stupid enough to attack him _and_ take his Kojuro away. No way _ever_.

He dodges all the guards trying to snag him back (he's gonna get in trouble for that later, and runs out into the rice fields, to the dirt path by the river. There are lots of tracks, people-tracks going north into the forest, and Bontenmaru follows them, running as fast as he can. If Kojuro's not on a horse he can't have gone far and Bontenmaru runs harder, holds his hurt arm close to his side and pounds with the other. There! They didn't go so far at all, he can hear Kojuro yelling just up the road--

Wait.

Kojuro never yells.

And he's not supposed to use words that bad even if he yells.

Bontenmaru stops in his tracks. It's Kojuro all right--Kojuro's the only one standing. There are three scruffy men tied together like prisoners, two of them crumpled on the road like they're dead, one of them held up by Kojuro's fist on his collar. And then Kojuro's other fist (his stronger fist, the one he's backwards in and said Bontenmaru can't be backwards too, Kojuro was just born like that) slams into the guy's face. When he pulls it back, his knuckles are dripping, and the guy looks more like a gutted fish than a person, bugged eyes and all.

It's still better than the guys on the ground, though. They just look like meat, like a skinned cow that used to be hanging from the ceiling and then fell down on a broken rope.

"I dare you to beg, you piece of shit," Kojuro growls before he hits the guy again, so hard his teeth fly out like red beetles. "No one lays a hand on the young lord. _No one_!"

The guy tries to say something, but that must be hard when you're choking on your own teeth.

It doesn't matter a second later. Kojuro punches him twice more. He probably only needed to do it once, but Kojuro's thorough, Bontenmaru thinks. Kojuro always makes sure he does what he's supposed to.

It takes Bontenmaru a second to realize that he just watched someone die. It doesn't make him want to cry, but it does make his stomach churn and his spine tighten up. That might not just be because someone's dying, though. That might be because of how.

Kojuro just killed someone. Kojuro just killed someone who couldn't fight back.

Bontenmaru stands very still, still enough that he can smell the wind. He watches Kojuro let the guy drop into the same pile as the other two, watches Kojuro fling the blood off his fist and then kneel to wipe it on one of their kimono. He only notices Bontenmaru when he looks up, like he meant to search out the way home.

Bontenmaru gulps. "Hey Kojuro," he says. Darn. He meant to sound tough, not small. He digs his heels into the floor and stands up real straight and makes fists, like Kojuro's fists.

"My lord," Kojuro says, just barely louder than the wind. It's the old voice, the one that Bontenmaru's always heard, always until just now.

"I just wanted to see them," Bontenmaru says.

Kojuro shuts his eyes, and stands up. There's still blood on his knuckles. "There they are," Kojuro says.

"You're gonna do that to...everyone who hurts me?"

"Yeah," Kojuro says. He's still looking at the ground, like he's trying to be polite. But there's nothing polite about beating the snot out of three guys like he just did, so Bontenmaru thinks it's a little stupid.

"Okay," Bontenmaru says, putting on his toughest face yet. "So I'll try not to let anyone hurt me."

Kojuro looks up, all quick, like he's surprised. So Bontenmaru grins and grabs Kojuro by the hand (his right hand, the one that's less gross right now) and turns around and starts taking him back home. Kojuro's hand is a little cold, even if it's sweaty, so Bontenmaru doesn't feel like holding on tight means he's weak.

"You didn't like doing that," Bontenmaru says. "I can tell. So I won't let anyone hurt me and you won't have to do that any more. Got it?"

Kojuro doesn't laugh, but he does pat the back of Bontenmaru's hand with his thumb. "If you say so, my lord."

"I say so!" Bontenmaru gives Kojuro's arm a good yank to prove he means it. "No one's gonna mess with me, especially if I've got you!"

They leave the bodies where they are (not because Bontenmaru doesn’t want to look at them, not at all), and only make it a few more steps before Kojuro stops, and Bontenmaru feels a little jolt in his shoulder. "You went out without your shoes," Kojuro says.

"Am I in trouble?"

Kojuro nods, and picks Bontenmaru up in his arms. Bontenmaru's about to protest--he's not a baby!--when he finds himself looking at the blood on Kojuro's left hand instead.

Yeah. He'll never let anyone hurt him again. And if he does (which he won't) he should make it better for Kojuro somehow.

He's (mostly) quiet the rest of the way home, trying to think of how. And falling asleep in Kojuro's arms, even though he doesn't mean to.


End file.
